Section V - Discipleship: Our Calling to Holiness and Mission | Audio Reading of The Seoul Statement

Section V – Discipleship: Our Calling to Holiness and Mission: This is an audio reading of Section V of the Seoul Statement, calling believers toward deeper discipleship and Christlike living within local church communities. To read the full text, visit lausanne.org/statement/the-seoul-statement.

 

Episode Transcript

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.3874234287Section five of the Soul Statement Discipleship, our Calling to Holiness and Mission Introduction. 2 00:00:09,94.3874234287 --> 00:00:23,674.387423429 In his mercy, God has worked through the Lausanne movement over the past half century to catalyze evangelism, to unreached peoples and communities around the world, and to inculcate a sense of social concern in the face of injustice, oppression, and discrimination. 3 00:00:24,274.387423429 --> 00:00:29,74.387423429 These dual emphasis have often been held together within the concept of integral mission. 4 00:00:29,644.387423429 --> 00:00:36,454.387423429 Integral Mission has not always fully integrated the command of our Lord to be disciples and his commission to make disciples. 5 00:00:37,204.387423429 --> 00:00:46,774.387423429 As a result, despite our claim to be followers of our crucified Lord, we have often failed to live in keeping with the holy pattern of life he gave to us and to teach others to do the same. 6 00:00:47,314.387423429 --> 00:00:55,234.387423429 The result has been a steady stream of reports of financial mismanagement, of sexual misconduct and abuse, of abuse of power among leaders. 7 00:00:55,879.387423429 --> 00:01:05,119.387423429 Of efforts to cover up these failures while ignoring the pain of those who have suffered because of them and of spiritual anemia and immaturity in evangelical churches around the world. 8 00:01:05,839.387423429 --> 00:01:06,979.387423429 We grieve these failings. 9 00:01:07,339.387423429 --> 00:01:08,299.387423429 We lament our sin. 10 00:01:08,929.387423429 --> 00:01:18,649.387423429 We humbly repent and confess our profound need for the ongoing grace of the gospel to produce in us the holiness without which no one will see the Lord as described in Hebrews 1214. 11 00:01:19,549.387423429 --> 00:01:22,129.387423429 We therefore commit ourselves to the following affirmations. 12 00:01:23,719.387423429 --> 00:01:24,139.387423429 One. 13 00:01:24,679.387423429 --> 00:01:27,799.387423429 A disciple is a follower of Jesus formed by the gospel. 14 00:01:27,799.387423429 --> 00:01:30,259.387423429 For a life of loving God and loving others. 15 00:01:32,29.387423429 --> 00:01:52,369.38742343 We affirm that to be a disciple is to be formed in the pattern of life that conforms to the good news of Christ's incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension by which God and His love has saved his people from their sins, and through the outpouring of the Spirit, by the ascended Christ graciously granted them the power to live under his holy and righteous rule. 16 00:01:53,59.38742343 --> 00:02:00,709.38742343 As a result, mission is properly aimed toward the formation of disciples whose love for God and love for others are united in an undivided heart. 17 00:02:01,669.38742343 --> 00:02:16,639.38742343 This outcome is properly understood as the work of God to write his law in human hearts, a work that enables us to live as God's one holy covenant people made up of all peoples who continue the work of Jesus, the servant of the Lord, to bring life and light to the world. 18 00:02:17,284.38742343 --> 00:02:23,734.38742343 As the embodiment of this divine achievement, the local church is both the means and the end of mission pursued in this way. 19 00:02:24,634.38742343 --> 00:02:32,434.38742343 For reference, see Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 and Matthew 22, 36 to 42. 20 00:02:32,794.38742343 --> 00:02:37,114.38742343 Our Lord Jesus commands us to be disciples and commissions us to make disciples. 21 00:02:38,974.38742343 --> 00:02:44,224.38742343 We affirm that the mission of God's people is to fulfill the commission that the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples. 22 00:02:44,764.38742343 --> 00:02:50,554.38742343 To make disciples through the announcement of what God has achieved in sending his son into a rebellious and broken world. 23 00:02:51,94.38742343 --> 00:03:12,184.38742343 Those charged with the task of announcing God's good news to all peoples must themselves live as disciples and understand that the proper aim of our mission is the transformation of those who hear and believe the good news to live as disciples who obey all that the Lord taught through this transformation of individuals, God achieves his mission to restore humanity through the gospel. 24 00:03:12,589.38742343 --> 00:03:16,759.38742343 Into the image of Christ, and with it to renew and restore all creation. 25 00:03:17,209.38742343 --> 00:03:21,439.38742343 The fulfillment of God's purpose to renew humanity is the local church. 26 00:03:21,799.38742343 --> 00:03:29,119.38742343 The manifestation of the heavenly gathering of God's people, of every time and place from every nation, and people. 27 00:03:29,899.38742343 --> 00:03:35,989.38742343 As such, the formative power of the gospel has both individuals and the local church as its object. 28 00:03:36,559.38742343 --> 00:03:42,139.38742343 The formation of mature disciples is inextricably bound up with the growth and maturity of churches. 29 00:03:42,559.38742343 --> 00:03:47,899.38742343 Into the fullness of Christ's likeness through the spirit empowered ministry of its individual members. 30 00:03:49,99.38742343 --> 00:03:57,499.38742343 For reference, see Matthew 22, 37 to 40 and Matthew 28, 18 to 20, and Ephesians four, 11 to 14. 31 00:03:58,399.38742343 --> 00:03:58,729.38742343 Three. 32 00:03:59,149.38742343 --> 00:04:04,759.38742343 We cannot make disciples without announcing the good news and cannot be disciples without a deep engagement with a broken world. 33 00:04:06,469.38742343 --> 00:04:09,919.38742343 We affirm that those formed as disciples, both individually and corporately. 34 00:04:10,294.38742343 --> 00:04:19,384.38742343 Will invariably find themselves deeply engaged with a world broken by injustice and sin in their families, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and societies. 35 00:04:20,134.38742343 --> 00:04:26,494.38742343 Our task and mission, therefore, is not simply one of announcing a message in order to secure professions of Christian faith. 36 00:04:27,214.38742343 --> 00:04:37,924.38742343 Rather, our evangelistic task is to announce the message of a crucified messiah as we live lives That accord with that message, with the aim of seeing others formed in the same pattern of life. 37 00:04:38,719.38742343 --> 00:04:50,989.38742343 The pursuit of righteousness in our personal lives, our homes, our churches, and in the societies in which we live can no more be separated from the announcement of the gospel than being a disciple can be separated from making disciples. 38 00:04:52,999.38742343 --> 00:04:54,739.38742343 Four As disciples. 39 00:04:54,739.38742343 --> 00:04:59,689.38742343 We experience transformation as both an initial and ongoing experience of the gospel. 40 00:04:59,689.38742343 --> 00:05:00,109.38742343 Grace. 41 00:05:01,909.38742343 --> 00:05:05,509.38742343 We affirm that a disciple is a person whose life has been transformed by the gospel. 42 00:05:05,989.38742343 --> 00:05:10,39.38742343 This transformation begins when we repent of our sin and believe the good news. 43 00:05:10,579.38742343 --> 00:05:19,189.38742343 However, like seed planted in good soil, the good news does not bring the fullness of transformation or bear the fruit of transformation all at once. 44 00:05:19,669.38742343 --> 00:05:32,869.38742343 Rather, this transformation takes place gradually over the course of a lifetime in which the increase of holiness and love demonstrates the reality of the gospel's transforming power, both the initial experience of transformation. 45 00:05:33,289.38742343 --> 00:05:42,859.38742343 Its ongoing realization of the work of God's spirit by grace through faith to unite believers to the life of Christ and to one another within the body of Christ. 46 00:05:44,119.38742343 --> 00:05:44,539.38742343 Five. 47 00:05:45,79.38742343 --> 00:05:54,559.38742343 Local churches play a vital role in our formation as disciples by ministering the means of grace in the gospel and experiencing its transforming power in their corporate life. 48 00:05:56,449.38742343 --> 00:06:02,569.38742343 We affirm that a local church grows and matures as it seeks to ensure that its corporate life reflects the pattern of life. 49 00:06:03,19.38742343 --> 00:06:27,799.38742343 That conforms to the message of Christ crucified churches do so through the proclamation of the Gospel, through regular rehearsing of the gospel in baptism and the Lord's table, and by gratefully responding to the gospel in prayer and praise within the church, individual believers learn to conduct themselves as citizens of heaven, who live lives worthy of that citizenship by mediating the grace conveyed to them by the spirit to their fellow believers. 50 00:06:28,459.38742343 --> 00:06:34,909.38742343 Within the church, individual marriages are conformed to the loving union between Christ and his people within the church. 51 00:06:35,239.38742343 --> 00:06:39,979.38742343 Individual families are strengthened in the way of the Lord by life within the household of faith. 52 00:06:40,609.38742343 --> 00:06:57,319.38742343 In this way, both the church and its members are built up in the most holy faith, conformed to the image of Christ by the Spirit, and encouraged to live lives of holiness, faith, and the purifying hope of our Lord's return prepared by the ministry of the gospel within the church. 53 00:06:57,739.38742343 --> 00:07:08,179.38742343 And prompted by the compassionate example of Christ, we learned to see the whole of life as worship to seek the good of those outside the church and to work for the restoration of wholeness to the world. 54 00:07:08,179.38742343 --> 00:07:12,259.38742343 In all we do, for reference, the Ephesians two 19. 55 00:07:12,709.38742343 --> 00:07:13,699.38742343 Philippians 3 21. 56 00:07:14,539.38742343 --> 00:07:15,979.38742343 Thessalonians two 12. 57 00:07:16,579.38742343 --> 00:07:17,329.38742343 Jude 21. 58 00:07:18,199.38742343 --> 00:07:18,739.38742343 John three. 59 00:07:18,739.38742343 --> 00:07:19,159.38742343 Three. 60 00:07:20,944.38742343 --> 00:07:26,314.38742343 Six Local churches also play a vital role in providing accountability and modeling healthy patterns of leadership and governance. 61 00:07:26,314.38742343 --> 00:07:28,564.38742343 For ministry leaders, missionaries and ministry partners. 62 00:07:30,274.38742343 --> 00:07:36,364.38742343 We call ministry leaders and missionaries to remain in vital fellowship with and accountability to local churches. 63 00:07:37,324.38742343 --> 00:07:46,654.38742343 While this is true of all disciples, those call to forms of ministry outside of their local churches must remain vitally connected to the life of Christ within the church. 64 00:07:47,44.38742343 --> 00:07:52,534.38742343 And reflect the ongoing work of God's spirit within a local church in his providence. 65 00:07:52,534.38742343 --> 00:08:00,304.38742343 The Lord has raised up ministries and mission partnerships to collaborate with the local church to sharpen and equip his people to be and make disciples. 66 00:08:01,144.38742343 --> 00:08:12,94.38742343 We affirm the importance of these ministries, but also the importance of maintaining a clear focus on and connection to the local church as the embodiment of the new humanity that God is forming in Christ. 67 00:08:12,544.38742343 --> 00:08:22,864.38742343 Such ministries honor Christ when they draw on the instruction given to local churches in scripture for their patterns and principles of accountability, transparency, and oversight. 68 00:08:23,524.38742343 --> 00:08:32,869.38742343 In doing so, they will adopt structures of plural leadership and governance that preserve the location of spiritual authority in the gospel rather than any single individual. 69 00:08:34,572.70975676 --> 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